13 F-ed Up Reasons To Download My Fantasy Novella

This is Read an Ebook Week, did you hear? As part of the Festivities, I've allowed my Fantasy novella, A Mage By Any Other Name, to go FREE at Amazon.com, as this is its last month available exclusively at Amazon. It will be free until March 10. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Mage-Any-Other-Name-ebook/dp/B006RO3LVS

Quick Blurb: Mary's new job with Wizard Williwim is perfect. Through gainful employment and access to the classified central library, she hopes to discover a route to the respect and approval she yearns for. For years she’s attempted one plan after another, and this one appears to be working.

But Mary’s life has never been that easy. When an enemy from her past reappears to endanger everything she has nearly achieved, she has to decide whether to confess some dangerous secrets she’s been hiding.

A tricky choice, when those secrets could lead to her and Williwim being cast out of the district...or being very, very dead.

Anyway, if you need further convincing, here are 13.5 F-'d up reasons to click on that link:

1) It's Free.

2) It's Funny.

3) It's Fantasy.

4) It's Feminist-ish.

5) It's Frabjuous.

6) It's (not) Feeble.

7) It's From Jody Wallace (because I KNOW this is convincing).

8) It's Funky, kind of.

9) It's Frisky, but not that kind of.

10) It's Fresh (only 2.5 months old!)

11) It's Fairly well edited (me and mine are good at the spelling, yo!)

12) It's Full of worldbuildy goodness.

13a) It's Feudal. Not as in feuds, but as in, based in a somewhat feudal system of government, owing to it being a relatively standard fantasy novel set in a pseudo-Middle Ages era that should be FAMILIAR to readers of this genre but still accessible to readers not as familiar with the genre.

13b) Come to think of it, it's Feudy too. There is a definite feud in the book that influences the progression of the plot.

Until March 10, then. Have at it and avast and stuff!

Jody W.
So much cyberspace, so little time!
www.jodywallace.com  / www.meankitty.com

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

No matter where we are, writers are always alone when we write.

Publishing is changing. There are more options now. Paper (hardback, mass market, or trade), electronic, both. Big Six traditional publishing, smaller publishers, tiny publishers, self publishing (AKA indie). So many choices! And the writer may feel more confused and alone than at any other time since the Gutenberg Press was invented.  

Yet we are alone, each of us, when we create our writing. Right now, I’m sitting at the dining table and my husband is three feet away (tiny apartment) playing with his new Wii. But I’m alone in my head. I’m thinking of you, my readers as I write this, but if I were writing fiction, I would be alone with my characters.  That has not—and will never—change. It all begins with a lone creative being quill/pen/pencil in hand, scrawling words across a page. Or that lone creative being typing words that appear on paper or screen. Technology changes, but the process remains the same. Somehow a seemingly normal person sees pictures in her (or his) head and manages to transfer these pictures into words on a page/screen. This process isn’t understood by scientists, and I don’t think it ever will be. 

You see, I believe this transfer of pictures in a writer’s head to something that readers can read and enjoy is magic. Yes, I said it magic. And I’m simply fortunate (or unfortunate!) to be one of those people. Sometimes I feel the weight of this gift. When I want to give up. When I worry I can’t do this thing, something inside me whispers, “It isn’t yours to give up.” The next thing I know, I find myself writing in spite of myself. Because if the magic is in you, it’s gonna come out. The best thing to do is to enjoy the ride.

Have a great week!

Cheryel

www.cheryelhutton.com

Isn’t it gorgeous? The Tickle My Fantasy anthology is out in print today!!

Go ahead. Try to resist the magic. We dare you!

Carolina Wolf by Sela Carsen (psst! This is me!)
Debra knows that the teensy amount of witchcraft in her veins isn’t worth getting excited about. Yet someone—or something—thinks it’s worth attacking her. Rescuing her seals Maddox’s fate, but only if he can protect her from a rogue of his kind. A werewolf with a nasty streak…and a preference for raw meat.

The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo and the Poltergeist Accountant by Vivi Andrews
Lucy is doomed. Not to death. To nightly visits from recently deceased Casanovas without the bodies to scratch her itch. Then a living fantasy arrives on her doorstep. Is her dry spell at an end? Not hardly. Jake has been sent to prevent her from getting laid until a particular horny phantom—and key witness in his investigation—pays her a visit.

ParaMatch.com by MK Mancos (hi Kat!)
Even though she lives without a paranormalady, Lucille has managed to carve a niche for herself with a paranormal matchmaking service. Enter Jager, deposed king of the Titans and successful paratrader. She can match anyone, except him. She doesn’t know that he’s out to negotiate the deal of a lifetime—a future with her.

Witches Anonymous by Misty Evans
Amy is done with Devil-worshipping. After swearing an oath never to use magic again, she’s in the market for a normal guy to complement her new lifestyle. And Adam looks like perfect hero material. Lucifer, however, isn’t about to be nice about letting her go…

Warning: This book contains hunky werewolves, smart-ass women and men who think that’s sexy, magic, angels, medieval legends, inter-species romance, disco music and flatulent Boxers. (The dogs, not the underwear.)

Read An Excerpt Online

A bit of magic

There're only three more days until Halloween is here. As much as I enjoy the excitement around the day, I'll admit there's a part of me that will be glad when November 1st arrives.

That's the part of me that's had to watch Halloweentown, Halloweentown II : Kalabar's Revenge, Return to Halloweentown, and let's not forget Halloweentown High somewhere near twentytwelve times each this month.





You see, my daughter has discovered magic. She's still not ready for Harry Potter (oy - I just had to go there, didn't I? Probably by next year, if the Universal Theme Park opens this year.) Yet thanks to Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place and their Halloweentown movie series she loves, loves, loves magic. She has spent the past few weeks practicing spellcasting, chanting made up words under her breath, and trying to turn her brother into a frog.



Now Wizards of Waverly Place is actually a pretty ok show. Selena Gomez is a cute, talented teen, and it's one of the few shows that doesn't have whining, annoying, or too-old-for-their-age kids on it. And the Halloweentown movies aren't too bad either - Debbie Reynolds made a pretty nice granny witch, and the movies are just the right touch of scary for a seven year old witch-wanna-be. But please, please, please stop showing the same things over and over and over. It's enough to make me miss Goosebumps, her scary-season fixation from last year.



The Halloweentown movies will be on Disney no less than 14 more times between now and the end of the month, so if you've somehow missed them you've got plenty of chances to make up for the loss. I think it may be time for me to unplug the satellite though. Otherwise I may never make it until November.

Flawed Release Day!

It's here! Today is release day for Flawed, the sensual tale of a princess in dire need of a bit of help and the two shadow elves who fall head over heels for her.

Elves and magic and betrayal and hot, burn-up-the-sheets love - this novella has them all. This is a fantasy for adults, a love story for everyone who ever felt the weight of the world rested in the throw of a d20.

I hope you enjoy the story of Emilia, Rorek, and Jo'el.

Here's a snippet from the opening scene -

Attempting to calm herself from the ugly scene she had fled, she rolled her flushed face against the coolness of the wood. First one side, then the other, before she let the warming surface press against the useless dark rock that rested in her forehead. There was a distant sensation of pressure where the stone met her flesh, an unwanted reminder of her most obvious shortcoming. The stone that should have been a source of great magical power was nothing more than a daily reminder that she was, indeed, as flawed as a princess could be.

A low moan from the room behind her jerked her from her thoughts. Spinning around to find the source, Emilia stared openmouthed in surprise at the scene before her.

Gods alive.

Firelight cast a dim light over a couple near the fireplace. A large male body reclined across the brocade cushions of a finely carved settee, one long leg propped against the back of the small sofa and one braced on the floor. His thighs were spread wide, giving her a clear view of the naked muscled chest that rose from a slender waist. A cream-colored shirt of the finest shadowsilk was unbuttoned across his skin, framing the sculpted muscles and smooth ebony skin in light.

His head was thrown back in abandoned pleasure, allowing shadows to flicker across the planes of his face. A rising flame threw him into light, and then his features were cast again into the shadows. Through the haze of shock she felt a stab of recognition. Rorek Northmark, Lord Magician of Darkknell, the visiting ambassador and blood cousin to King Torek of the Shadow Elf, was sprawled in lusty abandon as she had never seen him before.

I'm giving away a copy of Flawed - this one is open to anyone who comments here or on my blog between now and midnight, July 2nd.

Happy reading!

Flaws

Flaws.  We all have them. 

David Beckham, oh god of Armani underwear,

 

has a thing for skinny blonds with boy haircuts.  Nora Roberts head hops like a Mexican Jumping Bean (although since I still adore her books, is this a flaw or just her style?)  I fuss at my kids if they bother me when I’m trying to work - and man, will seeing Coraline ever give you a complex about that.

But there are flaws, and then there are Flaws.  The heroine of my new book Flawed – coming this summer from Samhain Publishing  – has some pretty serious ones of the capital Flaw flavor.

She’s a princess and heir to the kingdom; life should be pretty good, wouldn’t you think?  But happenings in her world of Elfish magic and court treachery has her backed into a pretty tight corner.  Her magic?  Nonexistent.  Her birthright?  Seems to have deserted her.  And even David Beckham up there wouldn’t be doing anything for her – she’s got a serious problem when it comes to sex.

I think I’ll take my short temper over her set of problems.

Have you got any flaws you want to admit to?  Or maybe, as gamers are often sarcastically saying, they aren’t really flaws, they’re features! 

Ember Case ~ Come Twitter with me